


Deja Brew (Haven't We Had This Cup Before?)

by ximeria



Series: Given enough coffee, I could rule the world [4]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 12:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik's life is finally adding up. He's in a relationship, he's figuring out what he wants to do with his time.</p><p>Of course this isn't something he's allowed to savor without interruption for too long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deja Brew (Haven't We Had This Cup Before?)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the final, planned installment to the coffee series. Sorry to those who might've been waiting around for it - it's always been a writing project that gets attention when nothing else is brewing (pardon the pun).
> 
> However, I've been wanting to give Erik an ending for ages, but without the character speaking to me, I've had trouble figuring out what exactly said ending should be. He took his own sweet time, but it's done *grins*
> 
> Also, the rating is set for violence - I would normally consider it Teen and Up - but better safe than sorry, eh?

They weren't stupid, whoever they were. They came in the night, stealthy and completely unexpected..

At least he could track them whenever they came near. Could 'see' them to avoid them. Even with the training he'd been given over the past couple of months, he was nowhere the potential that Charles saw in him.

 _'Charles!'_ Erik called out in his head again. And again received no answer.

"Sir!"

Erik held out his hand, trying to see through the dust and debris of the hallway they were moving down. He could sense them coming. "Bobby, ice this hallway as much as you can, wall, thick, thin layer on the floor on the other side of it if you can as well," he told the kid. "Slipping won't hurt them much, but it might slow them down."

Bobby nodded.

Erik was doing his final sweep of the place, getting the last of the kids out. He was fairly sure Bobby and Remy had been the last ones, cut off as they'd been in the kitchen when the attack had happened, doing the dishes as punishment for once again fighting in the house.

He wished Kurt had been able to take them as well, when he'd teleported out with the small group Erik had rounded up. If they stayed where they were, maybe he would be back, but they couldn't. Not unless they were ready to make a stand.

He put his hand on Remy's shoulder and guided him off along one of the side hallways. It was still so hard to see through the dust and it made his eyes burn. "You know the mansion better than I do," he said quietly. "Is there any way for us to get out?"

Remy looked around, obviously trying to catch his bearings. He blinked his eerily red eyes for a moment and Erik worried if the small trickle of blood from his temple might mean internal damage.

"Oui, there's an old servants' hallway runnin' along the back o' the ballrooms," he replied. "We can get into that a little further on."

A quick check and he found Bobby catching up with them, though he looked tired enough to drop any moment. "Let's go."

Erik could only hope that the others would come back in time to save the day, especially if Erik and the last two kids couldn't get out of the mansion on their own. He didn't dare question if the others had made it out through the tunnel system.

He had to believe in it.

~~~♦♦♦~~~♦♦♦~~~

Erik had his usual run; a good 4-5 miles as he did every morning. The air was clear and crisp and daylight was only just coloring the skies. It wasn't always easy getting out of bed these days. He'd never had reason to stay in bed beyond the sleep he required, but some mornings it was hard getting out of bed with Charles wrapped around him.

It was still strange, nearly three months down the road. Had anyone suggested, before he'd met Charles, that he'd end up in a relationship, not to mention, find a place where he'd really feel at home, he would have scoffed.

Even now there was that little voice in the back of his head telling him not to get too complacent. He'd lived on his own for so long, and getting used to living in a huge house with students lodging as well... it had been a bit of a challenge. However, a challenge softened a lot by Charles and by the new friends he'd acquired among the staff.

The fact that half the staff were X-Men members, only served to blow his mind even more.

Of course, living with mutant legends, he could see for himself how normal and down to earth most of them were. They all had chores to do around the school, they all had good and bad days. Really, no hero worship there.

The only worshipping going on, was Erik spending hours focusing on Charles, physically as well as mentally. It was definitely out of the ordinary when your boyfriend was a telepath and as strong as Charles.

And then there was another part of their relationship that actually finally had Erik considering what to do with his life. He'd started taking over assisting Charles with some of the physical therapy. A fact that pleased McCoy to no end.

Erik could see how much rested on McCoy's shoulders on a daily basis. Science or health related? Ask Dr. McCoy. And Erik could tell, while the man liked being needed, it also took its toll on him. And he'd even admitted one quiet afternoon, to Erik, that he did not have as much time in the labs for general research as he'd have liked.

Erik had asked if they couldn't hire another doctor, or nurse or someone to at least take some of the work load. To which McCoy had agreed, though they were hard pressed to find the right people. Vetting them was first and foremost important because of the children, and then there was the whole X-Men situation as well.

It had all coincided with Charles occasionally asking Erik if there was anything he'd like to do. He'd made sure Erik understood that he didn't have to work to be allowed to stay. And according to a few of the others, Charles was easier to be around as he was 'getting some' (Alex's words, which had caused Charles to flush deeply - mixed with no small amount of satisfaction).

And Erik had assured him that he'd go crazy if he didn't have anything to do. And that was the truth. Another reason why he'd had an idea the previous night, had nursed it this morning and was now going through how to suggest it to Charles.

There was no doubt that Charles would be supportive, but Erik wanted to make sure that it was all done in a way that it wouldn't be approved from Charles simply because they were in a relationship. Erik prefered to earn his way and his privileges.

He could tell that Charles wouldn't be the only one benefiting from his choice. He knew that more than a few of the kids with physical mutations needed extra care, extra, tailored exercise.

Erik slowed down and spent the last of the way cooling down, making sure to let his muscle stretch as he walked. He'd been fit before, but due to the exercise and training in general he was getting at the school, he felt about as physically healthy as he ever had.

The shower was a quick affair, as Erik could feel Charles' presence in his mind. Not intrusive, but telling him that Charles was waking up. And Erik wanted to air his idea, see what Charles would have to say about it.

He could feel the inquisitive nudge from Charles, who was obviously picking up on Erik's good mood.

 _'Patience,'_ he projected, receiving a burst of warmth in reply.

~~~♦♦♦~~~♦♦♦~~~

The sound of the explosion somewhere behind them made Erik herd the two boys in front of him, urging them to go faster. He tried his hardest not to panic, to not constantly hear the echoes of his own escape from Shaw's facility. It had been years, for fuck's sake, he should have long since gotten past this.

However, if he panicked, Remy and Bobby would have to find their own way out and he couldn't do that to them. He couldn't do that to Charles.

All those fancy thoughts and intelligent reasoning didn't help him though. He could hear his own breathing quickening, could tell his heart was hammering like crazy in his chest.

"Sir, Mr. Lehnsherr?" Bobby sounded very far away, but his voice was enough to drag Erik out for a few moments. He carried no delusions of security, thinking he could keep avoiding the memories - of course they'd surface in the middle of a situation where they could do the most damage.

"Go, Bobby, we need to get out of here."

"The entrance is here," Remy said, hitting the wooden wall to make it swing back. Erik wasn't going to ask him how he knew about the secret passage, and what he might have been using it for. It didn't matter. Getting out and being safe was the only goal and this was the only way out of a seemingly dead ending hallway.

They moved to get through, but to Erik time seemed to slow down. There was a split second of no sound, then the hallway seemed to ripple and the explosion followed, debris and splintered wood flying through the air.

As did both the boys and Erik, as he tried to shield them as much as he could with his body, trying to focus after the shock wave. Staggering to his feet, Erik attempted to make sense of up and down, left and right. His ears were ringing, he could tell that Bobby was down for the count, blood running from his temple as Erik grabbed for him. Remy looked white as a sheet, shocked by the his friend's unconsciousness, possibly just as much as from the shockwave of the explosion.

Erik could feel the metal heading their way and he caught sight of them at the same time as Remy did. The boy's gaze hardened and things around them started glowing. Debris, broken vases and stools, the jagged pieces of wood from picture frames.

They all glowed with an energy signature far stronger than Erik had ever witnessed from Remy.

Erik opened his mouth to tell Remy to be careful, when the kid jerked, blood blooming from his shoulder, the force of the shot strong enough to make him stagger back.

Everything was falling apart around Erik as Remy sank into a heap on the floor, a foot from where Bobby was still out cold.

Hunted, wanted dead. Adrenaline shot through Erik as he reached out for anything metal, small as well as big.

~~~♦♦♦~~~♦♦♦~~~

"It's a hell of an offer," Erik said quietly.

"You know it's not charity, Erik," Charles said, his voice as low.

They were sitting in the library, Erik in the big winged chair in front of the chess game and Charles, who had rolled over to his side, had a hand resting on Erik's knee.

"I'm beginning to understand that," Erik said with a small laugh. "Though getting a new name and legal papers, that's not something that goes into the household budget, school budget _or_ furthering the education of the staff budget," he said.

Charles laughed softly. "I'd have suggested it even if you hadn't chosen to stay here," he admitted. "We still don't know why there was a bomb at your place, whether you were the target or I was. Under any circumstances, it's definitely better that they think you're dead."

Erik nodded. He knew that Charles was right, but it still pained him to let go of his family name.

"Do you have any preferences?" Charles asked quietly.

Erik shrugged. "Can I at least keep my first name?" he asked.

Charles gave him a long stare. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, but calling you anything else, we'd all have to get used to using a different name. Keeping Erik as a middle name probably won't change that either."

Erik nodded. He could see that.

"If it makes you feel better, choose a name that maybe has a meaning to you?" Charles suggested.

"Eisenhardt," Erik said without thinking. He stopped and cocked his head. When Charles made an encouraging noise, Erik continued. "My mother's maiden name was Eisenhardt."

"It fits," Charles said, a smile curving his lips. "What was your grandfather's name?" he asked curiously.

"Max - Maximilian, I think," Erik said, making a face when Charles chuckled. "I could go with Max." He could if he had to.

"I don't know," Charles said, squeezing Erik's knee. "Erik Eisenhardt has a certain ring to it."

Erik put his own hand on top of Charles' and was leaning forward as there was a knock to the door.

With a sigh, Charles straightened in his chair, though he leaned forward again, tugging Erik forward into a quick kiss, before pushing himself back and turning to the door. "Come in."

McCoy stepped in, followed by Ororo, whom Erik had only met a couple of times as she was mostly the one who went out to find prospective pupils for the school. Behind her came Raven, who slipped past the two others and came over to give her brother a kiss on the cheek and a hug - and repeating the process with Erik.

It had come as a surprise to Erik that she'd taken to him the way she had, but then again, he had very vocal supporters in both Charles and Kurt. The two people Raven adored the most.

"We're sorry to interrupt," Ororo said, as she closed the door behind them. She gave Erik a quick nod in greeting, then focused on Charles. "We've gotten intel on an orphanage that might not be what it's pretending to be."

Erik cleared his throat and stood. "This is team business," he said, holding up a hand to stop Charles from arguing. "I've promised Kurt and a few of the others to go for a run with them this afternoon - so I am also elsewhere needed."

Charles shot him helpless look.

"Don't give me that," Erik said with a laugh, because it never ceased to surprise him when Charles tried to include him in team matters. He stepped forward and on a whim, he leaned down and gave Charles a quick kiss on the lips.

He was glad he had, when he both felt and saw the joyful reaction in Charles. The warmth of his smile, the warm touch of his mind against Erik's.

"I'll see you later," he promised.

Charles' smile was blinding and Erik felt warm and ten feet tall as he nodded at the others before heading out. He didn't miss the eyeroll from Raven nor the fond smile from McCoy. He even thought that Ororo's normally cool attitude was showing some warmth. Though he couldn't be sure, because he still didn't know her particularly well.

Making his way back to the bedroom he shared with Charles, Erik went over what they had talked about. Being offered a new identity as well as furthering his own education made Erik feel both jittery and excited. Something he couldn't say he'd felt for... well, for a long time.

Changing into his running clothes and shoes, he checked the time. He was ten minutes early, but it was more than possible that the kids were already waiting for him. And he wasn't wrong.

Much to his surprise, apart from Kurt and one of the Guthrie kids, Thomas, Erik was pretty sure - he never could tell them apart, he found Bobby there as well. It almost surprised him to not see Remy as well. As much as those two annoyed the hell out of each other, he rarely saw one without the other. Not to mention, Bobby was a few years older than both Kurt and Thomas.

Kurt waved at him, a happy look on his face.

"Is that everyone or are we joined by more?" Erik asked. He was beginning to enjoy the role of mentor and teacher.

"I think we're it," Thomas said, eyeing Erik a little warily.

Erik noticed that Bobby had much the same look, while Kurt just beamed at him. "Is something wrong?" he asked quietly, meeting Bobby's gaze. If there was anything, he wanted it out of the way before it grew into something ugly.

Bobby rubbed the back of his neck, looking ill-at ease and it was Thomas who finally spoke. "My sister said you were a hard teacher."

A little surprised, Erik cocked his head. Guthrie. Thomas' sister was a few years older and he'd had the older kids out for a run the previous day. Oh well, maybe he'd been a little hard on them. Maybe the word had gotten around.

"I will push you for your own sake," Erik said, wincing internally when it echoed Shaw's words from so long ago. "I want you to be fit, healthy, to be as strong as you can be." To run and hide if need be, though he kept that to himself.

Both boys stared at him, Kurt watching them curiously.

"I'm not going to break you," Erik said with a sigh. He wasn't going to scar the kids the way he had been in his youth; by Shaw. "It's exercise, push yourselves, but don't hurt yourselves. If you can't keep up, listen to your body and slow down. We're doing interval training and we'll warm up with a brisk five minute walk."

The boys didn't move.

Erik gestured at pathway ahead.

This time Bobby and Thomas reacted, setting off on the warm up.

Kurt grinned at Erik as he passed him, following them.

"Mr. Lehnsherr?"

Erik turned around to find Kitty standing behind him, looking a little awkward. "Yes?" He hadn't had much to do with her, but he knew from Charles she was a bright girl, at the tender age of thirteen, she was already one of the better computer programmers at the school. Not to mention he'd seen her phase through walls with barely a twitch.

"Am I too late to join?"

Erik hid his smile at her crestfallen look. "You're right on time, miss Pryde, I just started the boys out a little early - five minute warm up and you'll be more than a match for them," he said with a wink.

She flushed deeply but nodded enthusiastically before setting off after the three boys. He watched Kurt slowing down for a moment to let her catch up and allowed himself a wide smile before following.

He could definitely get used to this.

~~~♦♦♦~~~♦♦♦~~~

For a few moments Erik felt as if he couldn't breathe, then he felt ...strangely calm. The mansion's hallway seemed to melt away, leaving the bare, concrete walls of the Facility in its place.

The place was on high alert, the dampening fields malfunctioning. Which meant he could tell they were coming for him, hunting down every mutant that would try to escape.

Try. He wasn't going to try, he was going to succeed. He couldn't take the prodding and pushing anymore, the isolation when he fell short of Shaw's expectations - which he always did.

The tests, the experiments, the tissue samples that would be cut from his skin, torn from his body. The psychological tests that would leave him reeling for weeks. Or at least, he thought it might be weeks. He never knew for sure.

There was something off about the bare passage he was in. There were two unconscious bodies on the ground, he should know them, he knew them...

Didn't he?

And there was metal, lining the walls, empty shells of men. Erik reached for them, pulling into existence knights in shining armor.

Erik wondered if he was going mad, and if he cared if it were the case. They would serve him as weapons - even if they were wildly out of place.

Sending his metal warriors into battle, he could hear the shots fired at them, feel the bullets bouncing off the metal, in some places going right through.

The two on the floor, too young to be guards, had to be other escaped mutants. Erik stared at them. So young - how could Shaw do this to them? Why did he keep doing this? Torturing and killing?

Shaking his head, Erik turned his full focus on the soldiers battling his army. One armor clattered to the ground and another took its place.

He reached through one armor, hefting the great broadsword it was carrying. He swung it, brought it down in a sweeping gesture and he felt blood heating the blade.

Another guard, and another one. Erik heard bullets flying past him and wondered why he couldn't feel them. The last guard fell, but Erik couldn't stop, couldn't let his guard down.

He marched the armors back. Some were missing plates here and there, but he lined them up, across the passage and waited for the second wave, the second group of guards. There were always more, they would never stop coming, they would keep at it until he went under.

But he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Metal of a strange shape drew nearer and Erik lashed out, feeling it bend and crumble to his touch.

_'Please, calm your mind, my friend. I am not your enemy.'_

Erik shook his head, the sound of blood rushing through his veins were as loud as a roaring river in his ears.

_'Erik, it's me, please...,'_

The sound of the 'voice' was soft and luring. It would be another of Shaw's little games. The kind he never tired of. The kind that drove his prisoners mad in the end.

_'It's not a ruse, please come back to me, you're safe, you kept the children safe.'_

Erik felt nauseous, his head throbbing and his nose and eyes burning as if he was breathing in smoke. He slid to his knees. He wasn't going to let Shaw catch him again.

He wasn't.

A figure appeared in front of him, low to the ground, crawling towards him, or rather dragging itself along. A hand was extended, touching Erik's arm and the shape took on a more solid state.

"Erik, please..., this isn't real. It's a memory."

His breathing speeding up, Erik was about to turn all the metal on his attacker, when he was pulled close and held tightly, warmth permeating him both physically as well as mentally.

The warmth brought with it images. Quiet evenings in front of the fire, with the chessboard in front of him. His opponent laughing and smiling on the other side of it. The very same man spread out underneath him on an obscenely large bed. Staring up at Erik with devotion in his eyes.

"Charles?" Erik could barely recognize his own voice.

"Yes," Charles said, coughing.

Erik realized that the concrete passage had given way to the darker hallway of the mansion, smoke billowing through the air.

"Charles! The kids," Erik began.

"It's okay, they made it out thanks to you and the boys." Charles twisted in Erik's grip. "Hank and Alex will get Bobby and Remy to the infirmary. Logan's checking the grounds."

Erik barely spared them a look as the two men went past them. He realized he and Charles were on the floor, hanging onto each other.

"Where's your chair?" Erik asked curiously, his throat still feeling as if he'd swallowed broken glass.

"You crushed it, I think you thought I was a soldier coming for you," Charles said, cupping the side of Erik's head.

"A guard," Erik admitted, coughing. He felt completely drained.

Hank knelt next to them. He put one of his huge paws on Erik's shoulder. "The boys are alive, but we'll take them down to the infirmary and attempt to wake them. Remy's passed out from the pain of being shot and Bobby has a nasty hit on his head."

"We need to get Erik to the infirmary as well," Charles said. "You slipped out of reality for a while there," he told Erik, frowning. "And you've probably breathed in smoke as well."

"I... did," Erik admitted. He still felt muddled, but at least the surrounding were what they should be and he was no longer caught in a concrete passage somewhere in his past.

"It'll be alright," Charles said quietly. "It'll be alright."

~~~♦♦♦~~~♦♦♦~~~

Erik sat up with jolt, groaning when all his muscles and a couple of his ribs let him know that might have been unwise.

"You've bruised a couple of ribs," Charles said quietly from his spot in his chair.

Erik turned his head slowly, his vision swimming. "What are you doing all the way over there?" he asked; a little confused, wondering why he was so damned sore.

"Seemed the safest. You've been in and out of memories and dreams for the past ten hours," Charles said, closing the book he'd been reading and leaving it flat in his lap. "I didn't want to upset you by being too close to you."

Erik rubbed his throbbing head. The dizziness seemed to abate, but his body still felt as if he'd gone several rounds with a tank. He wanted to say that he would never be upset by having Charles by his side, but the way his heart was beating and the dark shadows of his dreams only just retreating... maybe it had been wise enough.

"What do you remember?" Charles asked curiously.

Erik opened his mouth, then shut it again. The attack came back to him, and with it, tension, flight-or-fight response of his body kicking in again.

Charles came closer, putting his hand on Erik's arm. "Take your time. We got most of it from the children, but I'd like to hear it from you as well. They were all... a little upset and the information I got from them was a bit like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle."

Erik nodded. Then winced and regretted the movement.

"Take your time, Erik," Charles said quietly. "You had a nasty flashback in the middle of the fight."

The fight. Erik closed his eyes. "You and the others left for New Orleans; that orphanage you had intel on," Erik said, playing the day over in his mind. "Everything was quiet, well, as quiet as a school ever gets," he amended.

Charles chuckled. "Go on."

"I'd gone the last round of the night before heading back to our bedroom," Erik said, recalling seeing the light in the kitchen.

"Remy and Bobby," Charles said, obviously seeing it through his memories. He wriggled his fingers. "Would you mind?"

"Not at all," Erik replied. Sometimes it was easier showing than finding the words.

Remy and Bobby had been in the kitchen, finishing up the last of their chores. They had gotten into another fight inside the house and before they had left, Charles had dropped more chores on them to, as he'd said, keep them out of trouble.

 _'I can only hope,'_ Charles whispered in his mind.

Erik had been about to tell them to head off to bed, when there'd been a sound at the back door; the one leading into the kitchen. Out of habit, Erik had reached out and felt his way around, realizing that they weren't alone.

 _'Hank says they had some sort of jamming signal that took out our perimeter alarms.'_ Charles mental voice was hard as steel. _'It won't happen again.'_

Dragging the two boys with him, he'd set off the silent alarm in the house, the one that would go off in every bedroom of the house, alerting all the kids that it was time to put their drills to the test.

 _'That lovely mutation of yours,'_ Charles sighed in his mind, warmth spreading through every dark crack. _'You are one of the few who can set it off without being near one of the control boards. It saved you, saved the children.'_

Erik closed his eyes. The explosion from the kitchen had torn a lot of debris down over their heads, making it hard to see where they were going, but he'd been able to tell from various bits of metal moving around, from necklaces and watches that the children had been doing what they were supposed to.

The next half hour had been soaked in adrenaline, Erik dragging the two boys with him, rounding up the last stragglers, Kurt finding him and taking most of them off his hand, teleporting them out. Though not strong enough to take Erik and the two teenagers as well.

Erik had been set on staying behind to buy them time. He had hoped Kurt would make it back to get Remy and Bobby out as well, but they had been forced to move on, to look for another way out.

 _'He went back in, but you were gone by then,'_ Charles whispered.

In his mind's eye, Erik saw Remy and Bobby going down, lifeless on the floor, felt the dark memories of the hallways warping.

"Hush," Charles said, lifting himself up from the chair and into the bed, hanging onto Erik tightly. "Forget that for a moment. You were in a bad place and bad memories came back to haunt you."

Erik gripped the familiar, old cardigan that Charles was wearing, grounding himself in the feel and scent of it, in the compactness of Charles' body underneath it.

"As horrible as it was, Erik, it might have saved you, though it almost kept us from reaching you. You saw everyone as the enemy."

Erik sighed. He wished he could say otherwise, but what little he remembered of his last stand, he had to agree. A flash of recognition went through Erik. "I crushed your wheelchair," he said, horrified.

"You did, but I got out of it, and crawled to you," Charles agreed. "I really need to get Forge to finish that suit - it would have been a lot easier to get to you in that." 

"I'd have fried its circuitry," Erik disagreed. And hurt Charles in the process.

Charles hummed in agreement. "Probably."

Erik drew a deep breath, focusing himself. "What about the orphanage?" he asked.

"An elaborate trap," Charles said, anger just below the surface.

"They lured you all away," Erik said. So someone out there knew, knew about the X-Men and where they kept their base.

"Yes and no," Charles said, resting his head carefully on Erik's shoulder. "We caught a couple of them," he explained. "They didn't know that they were getting the X-Men and not just me and a couple of the school's staff."

"You were the target." Erik took a deep breath.

"Yes, and I found a lot more when I went through their minds." Charles sighed. "The bomb that took down your building, the one that nearly killed you and I, was set by the same people."

There was a knock on the door and Charles looked mildly annoyed. The look smoothed out and the door was opened.

"Hank says he needs to eat, so don't give me that look," Alex growled at Charles. "It's not like we don't know what the two of you get up to in here," he said, making a face.

Charles didn't reply.

"You're still upset with me?" Alex asked, startled, putting the tray down on Erik's side of the bed.

"Can we do this later?" Charles asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You know I didn't mean it the way mutant supremacists do," Alex said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it."

Erik shot him a questioning look.

"Charles doesn't like the F-word," Alex explained, as he handed Erik a glass of orange juice.

"Fuck?" Erik asked bewildered before downing the whole glass, realizing just how thirsty he was.

Twin stares of surprise met him, and then both Charles and Alex laughed, the tension breaking.

"I was in jail a few years ago, before I met Charles," Alex explained. "I was in juvie with more than a few mutant supremacists and their hanger-ons. I got a little too used to the term Flat-Scan, one that Charles has tried to ween me off since. He's done a good job, but last night emotions were a bit high strung and I may have said a thing or two, including that term."

"You said some other, not nice things," Charles said quietly. "I know you didn't mean them, but..."

"I know, you'll get an apology when my temper has cooled a bit more," Alex said evenly, "give me a little longer for my righteous anger and I'll come find you. Focus on your boyfriend instead, the kids miss him already."

Charles flipped him off and Erik tried not to laugh out loud. Wouldn't do to encourage them.

"What?" Charles asked when Alex had left them, closing the door behind him.

"So mature," Erik said drily.

"Oh shut up," Charles muttered, pulling his head down for a kiss.

Erik grinned and reached for the plate stacked with sandwiches. "There's enough for the both of us," he offered.

"Knowing Hank, it's on purpose," Charles agreed, pulling himself up to sit next to Erik to allow them both room to eat.

"So, do we know the enemy?" Erik asked, chewing his sandwich, enjoying the hell out of a bland egg salad one.

"Friends of Humanity," Charles said, accepting a cucumber sandwich. "They've been a thorn in our side for years, but we didn't know they had reached the private army stage."

"Those attackers," Erik said quietly, "they knew what they were doing. They were trained."

"Being ex-military doesn't necessarily mean tolerance," Charles said with a sigh. "They've apparently been building their own little militia."

Erik reached over to the tray and carefully maneuvered the cup of hot tea over to Charles, who barely raised an eyebrow. Erik wondered if Charles had been skipping food and drink since he'd been watching over him.

It would have been easier if the tray had been metal instead of wood all through. Of course, knowing McCoy, that had probably been on purpose, to keep Erik from using his powers too early.

"You came back quite fast," Erik said.

"Believe it or not, but Kurt found us," Charles said, excitedly, almost spilling his tea. "He and I share a bond as a family, which he followed instinctively the way he did the day he saved you and I."

"He... teleported into a plane in flight..." Erik turned his head to stare at Charles.

"I don't want to think of how badly it could have gone," Charles said with a wince. "But it's still amazing."

"For someone that young? Hell yeah, for anyone," Erik agreed.

"He passed out for a few minutes when he materialized, but that's to be expected. I'm surprised he wasn't out for longer. Though it's a good thing he wasn't. With Kurt alerting us and segments of the school in rubbles when we got back, we were very careful when we went in," Charles said. "I could tell that the students were alright, though as Kurt had told me, Remy and Bobby were with you, and I could tell that neither of them were awake and you... your mind..." Charles trailed off.

"I was in a bad place," Erik agreed. He tried not to picture the battle.

"You were magnificent," Charles said quietly. "You made the old armored knights fight for you, and that speaks of your powers being a lot stronger than you might think. It takes skill."

"I... think I killed...," Erik began.

"Don't think about that right now," Charles hushed him. "Yes, you did what you had to do to keep the students safe. And these people invaded our home, threatening that safety. It will be taken care of."

Erik nodded mutely. The knowledge that he'd killed should possibly make him feel worse than it did, but it was all overshadowed by the relief of knowing that the kids were all right.

"And Alex is right, the students have been asking about your health," Charles continued. "Especially Bobby and Remy, who both have a severe case of hero worship going."

Erik felt his face heat. "I did what I had to do."

"Oh, it's not a bad thing," Charles said with a laugh, setting his now empty cup aside. "It's something they agree on - possibly the first thing ever, and they will see you as a role model. It's not a bad thing, darling."

Erik shook his head lightly. "I would rather they looked up to you."

"In a way they do, but I'm a different authority than you," Charles explained. "I'm not just their headmaster, I'm also the leader of the X-Men - they are both aspiring to become members when they get older."

Erik grinned. "They held their own, Charles, they have promise."

"They do, when they're not fighting each other," Charles agreed with a huffed laugh.

"They'll grow out of that eventually," Erik said, sliding down to lie on his back. He was happy to feel Charles following him, one arm curled over Erik's abdomen.

"Nap?" Charles asked.

Erik turned his head and noticed the dark circles under Charles' eyes. Not easily missed when they were this close. "If you join me," he agreed.

"You're not my physician," Charles told him, scrunching up his nose.

Erik didn't find that look on his face adorable at all. He also didn't project this at Charles.

At all.

Charles made a face at him again.

"No, but I'm your physical therapist-to-be and I happen to agree with your physician," Erik scolded, getting comfortable, trapping Charles' arm under his own. "Also, I'm your boyfriend, it's my right to worry and bitch at you until you take better care of yourself."

Charles lifted his head for a moment, staring down at Erik, a feeling of joy washing through their connection. Sniffing, he pursed his lips. "Am I going to regret giving you that much power over me?"

"No, not really," Erik grinned, closing his eyes, feeling Charles settle down close to him. "Not ever."

"Not ever," Charles agreed quietly, tightening his hold on Erik.

The End


End file.
